The Declaration of Independence—A Global Approach Lesson Plan

DECLARATION LESSON PLAN Holly Hoover, NCSS Conference 2016, [email protected]

The Declaration of Independence—A Global Approach

Lesson Plan

 Objectives

o Students will be able to:

 Interpret and deduct the main ideas of quotes from Enlightenment philosophers.

 Discover the extent to which Enlightenment philosophers influenced the American

Declaration of Independence.

 Evaluate statements of independence issued after 1776 and determine the extent to

which the U.S. Declaration influenced those documents by comparing structures,

word usage and ideals.

 THE BIG IDEA: Appraise to what extent and in what ways the Declaration of

Independence had a global impact.

 SOL Alignment

o WHII.1, WHII.6, WG.6, WG.9, VUS.1, VUS.2, VUS.7, GOVT.1&2

 Materials

o Handout A—Enlightenment Philosophers Excerpts (cut apart into strips)

o Handout B—Enlightenment Philosophers Chart

o Handout C—Declaration of Independence with accompanying questions

o Handout D—Global Declarations and Comparison Chart

o Handout E—Enrichment Activity: David Arbitrage Article

o Handout F—Declaration of Independence in Spanish

 Instructional Activities:

o STEP 1: ANTICIPATORY SET/BELL RINGER

 Write THE BIG IDEA above on the board.

 Ask: When would you say that the world truly became global in terms of economics,

diplomacy and interdependence? When was the first “world war?”How long do you

think it would take for news to get from the American colonies to Europe in the latter

half of the 1700s?

 Say: Believe it or not, the world was global much earlier in history. Remember: the

Vikings had visited North America around 1000 AD, and by 1600, the major nations of

the world: Britain, Spain, France, Portugal, and Holland had already established

worldwide empires. In fact, the first world war was really the Seven Years War, as it

involved Europe, North America, Central American, the West African Coast, India and

the Philippines. This world war was a result of colonization. The American colonies were

of course a part of the empire of Great Britain and were part of a vast and intricate

system of global trade. When America declared independence, they did so fueled by

ideas from around the world. In turn, the act of declaring independence then fueled

additional wars for independence. Believe it or not, it took only a matter of weeks for the

news of the Declaration to reach all parts of Europe. Today, 238 years later, more than

half of the world’s nations have Declarations of Independence in their nation’s

histories—a document first conceived by the American colonial patriots in 1776. Today,

we are going to explore these new ways of looking at and thinking about history by

discovering the international ideas that American colonists like Benjamin Franklin and

Thomas Jefferson used as sources of inspiration. Then, we will be looking at the

document itself, and just how much the Declaration inspired other nations. You will be

surprised what you discover!

o STEP 2: GROUP ACTIVITY

 Divide class into groups by philosopher. Assign a different quote to each student. You

may wish to give more than one for the shorter quotes or for advanced students. (You

DECLARATION LESSON PLAN Holly Hoover, NCSS Conference 2016, [email protected]

have several to choose from with most of the philosophers.) After they fill in the

“Main Ideas” portion of Handout B, have the students jigsaw with a representative

from the other philosopher groups to share their quotes and the main ideas. Have

them complete the Main Ideas column. Tell them to discuss the quote if they feel they

have additional ideas/interpretations.

 Have them to fill in the bottom portion to pull their ideas together. This can be done

back with their original group, individually, or as a class discussion. Remember to

reiterate the BIG IDEA.

o STEP 3: THE DECLARATION

 Lead a discussion on how the Declaration is divided into four distinct parts. Have the

students fill those in on their copy (Handout C) in the spaces indicated. They can find

those parts on the worksheet portion, or you can guide them through this. Ask

students to predict what they think is included in each part.

 Tell the students they are now going to be looking at the Declaration and answering

some questions about its content in order for them to become more familiar with

exactly what it said, how it was structured, and its main ideas. Divide students into

pairs to complete this activity. (The page numbers on the worksheet correspond to

 Have students compare answers with another pair. If they have discrepancies, tell

them to look back at the document and talk it out.

 Discuss Part C of Handout C together to bring it all together. Remember to reiterate

the BIG IDEA.

 Now, have students go back to their philosopher chart and fill in the ”In the Declaration”

Column and answer the Big Idea question underneath the chart. (this step can be left

out if there is a time issue).

o STEP 4: COMPARING THE DECLARATION

 SAY: Did the Declaration inspire the people’s declaration you are about to study? Your

job is to look for evidence to see if the Declaration was global or not.

 Again, divide students and assign each group a different Declaration to study. They

will use Handout D to guide their discussion. Tell them to skim the document for key

ideas and the basic structure…it is not necessary to read the Declaration they are

assigned word for word.

 Discuss as a class (or jigsaw again). ASK: What did you learn? Did the Declaration

inspire the people’s declaration you studied? How so? What is your evidence?

 Closure: Have students complete #32 on Handout C. Point to the Big Idea on the board &

discuss: How has this lesson changed your mind about how global we were that long ago? How has this

changed your mind about just how important the Declaration is?

 Accommodations

o ELL/Hispanic: Translate Quotes, Provide Declaration of Independence in Spanish (Handout E) and

provide Venezuelan Declaration in the Original Spanish from

http://scholarship.rice.edu/jsp/xml/1911/9253/1/aa00032.tei.html

ELL/Vietnamese: Provide Vietnamese Declaration in the original Vietnamese found under the heading

“Toàn văn bản tuyên ngôn” on the following website:

http://vi.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tuy%C3%AAn_ng%C3%B4n_%C4%91%E1%BB%99c_l%E1%BA%ADp_

(Vi%E1%BB%87t_Nam_D%C3%A2n_ch%E1%BB%A7_C%E1%BB%99ng_h%C3%B2a)

o Lower level:

 Provide shorter or easier to comprehend quotes from philosophers.

 Give materials to resource teachers/students to look at discuss for understanding PRIOR to the

activity.

 Bold or highlight key comparisons in the Declarations of other nations and in the copy of the

U.S. Declaration.

o Higher level: Assign Document D prior to the lesson as a homework activity.